CHAPTER 1052: CHAPTER 1049: TO ALICE

Despite the heavy rain, Su Ming’an quickly saw her clearly.

She stood among the countless corpses just like him, looking bewildered. And dejected. Her hand stretched out stiffly, covering the chest of a Holy Alliance Army soldier with a hole in it, seemingly trying to help seal the wound, but this action could not restore life.

A snow-white gown wrapped around her already tall figure. The surrounding soldiers’ corpses appeared to protect her, piling up centered around her. This scene stretched out a hundred meters in all directions.

Her posture was so similar to Su Ming’an’s, yet at this moment, they stood on completely opposing sides.

Suddenly, her gaze slowly moved, clashing with his. On her face was an expression akin to sadness, yet also resembling despair.

Her lips opened and closed slowly:

——"Detective."

It turned out that Alice’s army was also nearby, suffering similarly heavy casualties.

Three years ago, the Deity had stripped her of her identity as the Goddess, but after Su Ming’an feigned his death, the Deity returned the identity of the Goddess to her. An ordinary girl, without the identity of the Goddess, could not lead the people towards happiness, so she accepted this cold identity, doing everything she could to bring welfare to the commoners.

Three years passed, and Alice was already nineteen years old.

They stared at each other from afar, nearly alone.

...

[Goddess Alice Tasliche, nineteen years old at the time.]

[She faced the Old God on the distant battlefield, both nineteen years old, as opposing Generals.]

...

At sixteen, Alice once thought she could write brilliantly colorful flowers with her pen.

Since becoming the Goddess, she devoted herself wholly to learning the etiquette, affairs, rituals, and theology of the Goddess. She knew her status did not come easily, and only if she worked hard enough could everyone in the town live better lives.

When the pressure grew so intense she almost wanted to vomit, she would take out her cherished sheet music, chanting the nursery rhymes Yixi had taught her in childhood. Or she would take out an old violin with broken strings and quietly gaze at it.

[mi, re, mi, re...]

"To Alice" was a song the detective used to hum for her. At that time, she was in her early adolescence, wrapped in a blanket by the fireplace, falling asleep as the detective held a storybook, telling her stories and humming tunes.

The detective said "To Alice" was a piece composed by a musician in his world. The musician had a chance encounter with a girl named "Alice," who sought help everywhere to fulfill an old blind man’s wish to see the sea. On Christmas Eve, the musician performed for the old man, and the music allowed him to see the snow peaks of the Alps, the waters around Tahiti, and seagulls, forests, and dazzling sunlight. The story ended with the old man closing his eyes peacefully and contentedly.

The Alice in the story shared her name. At thirteen, Alice also loved the sea. Thus, the detective hummed this tune.

Later, when war arrived, many soldiers’ corpses were cast into the sea, the surface floating with the color of blood.

Afterwards, Alice became Tasliche, which was merely a trap set for the detective by the Deity.

She lamented the decisiveness of fate, placing the Crystal Crown upon herself.

At eighteen, she witnessed a great fire.

At that time, Knights were executing heretics, and the Old God had been dead for two years, so the Church’s executions grew even more rampant. She covered her ears, but the Priest by her side pulled down her hands, demanding she maintain the Goddess’ demeanor and calmly listen to the wailing.

[You are the Goddess, you must not pity these heretics.] The elderly Priest told her this.

[They are all ordinary people...] she said.

[If they do not believe in the Deity, the commoners will become demons. You see, they are engulfed by flames, revealing their ugly faces. They have already become demons.] The elderly Priest said this.

That night, the fierce wind rolled the black smoke, the stench of burning skin lingered at the tip of her nose, and people cried out in the flames, like sheep driven to the slaughterhouse on the brink of death. The frightened, struggling, bleeding, and wailing sheep were bound by visible chains constricting their bodies, while invisible chains wrapped around her neck, tightly strangling her. She felt as though she too was in an endless great fire, the flames spreading up from the hem of her long white gown, choking her throat.

Becoming the Goddess meant inevitably aiding and abetting evil.

Yet not becoming the Goddess, she wouldn’t even have the ability to protect Part and the others, and the childhood Burg Castle would fall as a battlefield. She too would become a speck of dust beneath the vastness of war.

She was the Protagonist, but no matter how the Protagonist struggled, it seemed she could not escape fate’s clutches. Left to her were choices that couldn’t be seen as options, and even upon choosing one path, she was only moving towards a predetermined conclusion.

Her short hair had grown to her shoulders, and she tried to cut it again. Just like when she was adrift at sea, she cut her long hair resolutely for the detective, as if cutting the spider silk destiny had entangled them in. But this time, everyone stopped her.

[You are the Goddess; your hair must not be cut.]

Thus, even the right to dispose of her hair vanished.

She sat in front of the mirror, looking at the increasingly complex Goddess gown, gazing beneath the Crown at her growing hair and ever more dim eyes. Then she looked down at the several hundred volumes of governmental records spread out on the table, each filled with the fate of thousands upon thousands of people.

——It turned out that from a certain moment on, she too became the "fate" for many people.

[Girl: ....]

[Girl: mi, re, mi, re... (humming)]

The lilies sent by Wendell had long since withered, the wind chime from Part was rusted, the Spring Heart Cookies Mei Mi made only left an empty cookie box. The flute Little Black gave had already been locked away in a cabinet — all that remained to her were their distant letters, telling of how they endeavored to live, build families, and establish careers beneath her political achievements. She was completely bound by this trust and love inside the white High Tower called "Goddess."

She tried to compose a lively tune using the high notes of G major, yet the notes played out dull and dark. The wind chime by the window swayed, the pure white Goddess gown drooped at the window ledge, and she stared at the repeated white lace on the fabric of the gown. In that moment, she realized she seemed no longer able to depict colorful beauty through music.

...

[Girl: What did you write?]

[Detective: I want you to live well, still as Alice, not as Tasliche.]

[Girl: I guessed you would write that.]

[Girl: Just like I wish you were always the Detective, and I were always Alice.]

...

[Girl: The Protagonist will overcome the difficulties. We will also... reunite with Part and the others after the dust has settled...]

[Detective: The Goddess and the lowly will slay their destiny.]

[Girl: You are not... the lowly one.]

[Detective: It’s a compliment term, describing someone as the Protagonist.]

[Girl: Low...ly...one.]

[Detective (gently): Yes.]

...

The girl was always thinking at that time.

If the detective never marries, can they continue on together as companions? The detective used to drink heavily every day and wasn’t in good health; surely he couldn’t wield a sword. In the future, she could become stronger to protect him, ensuring no exotic species could bully him, always protecting him.

It definitely can be this way.

...

Her hand brushed over the precious gemstones, bead chains, and satin.

She walked into the garden behind the temple, where white flowers swayed in the wind, resembling sculptures of white marble and appearing as crystal-clear as crystal flowers.

She raised her arms high but could no longer feel the freedom of dancing among the lilies of her youth. The heavy crystal crown weighed on her forehead, and the warm wind could no longer lift the gemstone-laden heavy hem of her dress.

Heavy, so heavy—she was like a white chrysalis.

"Father, mother," Alice murmured, facing the sky.

Now she had a Heavenly Father, a deity. Her secular parents could not be associated with her, yet she still hoped that perhaps one day... they could meet.

"Father, mother. I’ve found someone I want to travel with. He has bright black eyes, and when he smiles, those black eyes are like obsidian..."

"He died in the sky, pierced by a holy sword. But I always hope... one day he’ll return, like every year on my birthday, he’ll meet me. We would go to Sister Rita’s church, where Part and Diff would prepare a cake, with the best white pansies blooming by the lakeside."

"The light of the sunset stretched long, the white doves of the church pecking at the rice blown onto the eaves. He and I stood side by side on the steps at the entrance, and the red wishing tree in the square was adorned with countless wish cards. Holding my hand, he would hang our wishes high on the treetop..."

For a moment, her mind went blank. She blinked but could only think of the complex sacrificial texts and the teeming state affairs from various countries.

—She almost forgot what wish they made that year.

—She almost forgot the detective’s expression that year. Beneath the wishing tree, floating with red ribbons, the young man wearing a felt hat slowly bowed, his shoulder slightly moving, brushing away the fallen leaves from her hair.

The expression on his face at that moment, she should have remembered it.

Just like she almost forgot... the name she gave to that cat she adopted from the alley when she was fifteen.

Should she have had a cat?

...

Su Ming’an placed down a white dry flower.

The night stretched long between them.

Alice was already accustomed to such scenes filled with bones; she had experienced more than one war in the past three years. She was the Goddess, a talisman casually fashioned by a deity, yet so many soldiers of the Holy Alliance Army fought to the death for a lightweight oracle. To repay them, she was used to arranging their funerals, even though their deaths were mostly due to blind faith.

She bowed to close the soldiers’ eyes, placing each of their name tags into her arms.

[Girl: ...]

[Girl: Simmons Edwin, age 17, from Cologne City... ]

[Girl: Nel Ansair, age 21, from Mountain City... ]

[Girl: Tommy Archer, age 13...]

There were too many name tags, stained with blood, soon covering her chest in a bloody mess. Every soldier’s face was ashen, emaciated to the bone, with some broken bones and name tags stuck together. She took out a small knife to cut open the armor embedded in their flesh, cradling the almost illegible wooden tags in her arms.

Several black crows perched on rooted spears, their bellies round, like inky tombs.

This scene was both silent and terrifying.

Su Ming’an took a few steps forward but could hardly find a place to step, with layers of bodies piled around him.

Alice continued to collect the wooden tags, the battlefield so quiet that it seemed only their two upright figures remained. There were too many bodies, and the wooden tags in her arms were almost more than she could hold, so she had to use the soldiers’ clothes as bags to collect the wooden tags one by one.

Until she closed the eyes of one soldier, the girl’s numb actions froze for a moment. She recognized the deceased soldier.

[Girl: ...]

[Girl: Part...]

Her shoulders trembled like wild grass swaying in the wind. Her initially calm expression finally neared collapse at this moment.

The red-haired soldier lay in the trench, his elongated eyelids closed, his fingertips holding a white Sunny doll, congealed with blood. Should the wind sound in the rain, it would probably resonate with the crisp sound of a wind chime.

His legs were crushed under rocks, his deft hands adept at building fences for the slums exposed ivory-white joints. If he could open his eyes, they would be the sharp eyes of a wolf.

...

["Let’s go, take Alice away from these terrible places. She’s the protagonist, and so are you. The protagonist should not forsake the best ending for some supporting roles who can’t leave." Part laughed, pushing Su Ming’an away.]

...

In that moment, Su Ming’an once again met Alice’s gaze.

She stood next to the kerosene lamp, her shadow pulled long by the silent light. The distance between them felt like thousands of miles, yet also just a step away. Part’s eyes were closed by her, and the Sunny doll lay in her blood-stained palm.

Her lips moved, and Su Ming’an could also read her words—

["I became a Goddess because I wanted to protect Part and the others. If I can protect towns like Burg Castle, the children wouldn’t starve to death."]

["But I thought, if you became the true Old God, you too could protect them. Rather than struggle in the fate of being a ’protagonist,’ continually losing, and never having a wish fulfilled."]

["So, use me to resurrect the Exotic Species King."]

["Detective. I submit to this destiny."]

...

Her expression made him think she might be about to cry.

[Girl: mi, re, mi, re... (humming)]

The faint wind carried an almost inaudible singing voice.

In the noisy yet silent rain, it was the melody of "To Alice." The girl sat amidst a field of crimson "Manzusha Flowers," slowly removing the long-burdened crystal crown. She picked up a small knife—"crack."

In an instant, all her black hair cascaded down her shoulders.

As if cutting through countless lines of causality bound by destiny.